France sells off surplus swine flu vaccine

France - France is selling off millions of surplus swine flu vaccine doses to other countries, officials say. They say the move was decided after health authorities found they had more than enough to deal with the outbreak. Germany and The Netherlands announced similar sales late last year. The H1N1 virus appears to have peaked in North America and parts of Europe.----More

Catacombs closed to public due to vandalism

PARIS, France - Paris’ underground bone collection, the catacombs, has been closed to the public indefinitely after being vandalized. Ordinarily, the creepy collection of human remains - cleared from city cemeteries long ago - is orderly, with bones piled in stacks along underground tunnels. But a post-vandalism photo showed bones and skulls scattered along the walking paths....More

Bizarre News:France looks into "magic cheese" case in South America

PARIS (Reuters) – France is investigating what it says is a scam mounted by a French woman who sold thousands of Chileans kits to make "magic cheese" for French beauty products, an official said on Tuesday.

Gilberte Van Erpe, who was arrested and placed under investigation in France last year, is suspected of setting up a vast pyramid scheme, telling buyers the fermented mass produced by the kits could be sold to cosmetics companies in France.

A French investigator, examining magistrate Sylvie Gagnard, will fly to Chile to register the lawsuits of thousands of people who claim they were victimized, said Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office.

"We call it the 'case of the magic cheese'," Montagne said.

"She swindled people, she abused their trust to make them believe that she could commercialize that material."

Van Erpe, who is under custody in France and accused of fraud and money laundering, could not be reached for comment.

The spokeswoman said three other people also were arrested last year and placed under investigation for their role in the suspected fraud, conducted through a company called Fermex.

Media have reported that Van Erpe ran a similar scheme in Peru in 2003 to 2004 and then moved on to operate in Chile from 2004 to 2006.

Claiming that the fermented substance was all the rage in Paris as an ingredient for expensive moisturizers and shampoos, Van Erpe charged clients some 300 euros ($389) for the kits, which had a market value of about 3 euros, media said.

However, the product never made it to French cosmetics labs and most investors lost their money, the spokeswoman said.

Le Parisien newspaper said Van Erpe made about 30 million euros from her activities. It also said 5,000 Peruvians and 4,500 Chileans had filed lawsuits, but Montagne was unable to confirm that figure.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

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Stupid News - Bird dung means big business on Peru island

Stupid News - Bird dung means big business on Peru island
VICTORIA BEKIEMPIS, Associated Press Writer
56 minutes ago



ISLA DE ASIA, Peru - It's a dirty job, but people love to do it. Workers toiling 24 days a month loosen, scrape, sift, filter and bag bird dung to make some of the world's finest organic fertilizer — known as guano.

They work in a chilly breeze with the pungent smell of must, salt and ammonia on the Isla de Asia, one of 22 islands where thousands of birds create industry and employment simply by defecating.

"It's fun, everybody does something," said Lucho Moran of Lima, grinning as he moved sacks of guano by cable onto a barge. "It's busy."

Other workers say the job pays well, and they eat free.

Unfazed by the odor and grit, 100 to 150 men work 12-hour days that begin with breakfast at 3:30 a.m.

Workers wear powder from the ruddy dirt like uniforms as they hurl pickaxes into the soil and shovel raw dung, known as "guano bruto." They collect on average 77 tons of guano a day.

Then they sift it over metal mesh to extract the smaller particles that make the grade for fertilizer, which is then bagged and piled onto barges headed to the port of Pisco.

Most guano is used in the fields of Peru, where it costs a fraction of chemical fertilizer.

But about 20 percent is shipped to France, Italy and the United States, said operations manager Cesar A. Teran, where it is a favorite among organic gardeners.